


Livewire

by blackcoffeeandteardrops



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Post-Season/Series 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 18:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16859236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackcoffeeandteardrops/pseuds/blackcoffeeandteardrops
Summary: Added on/"deleted scene" story for the end of My Struggle/the series finale.





	Livewire

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by someone on tumblr forever ago. Due to technical issues as well as good old fashioned writer's block, this wasn't posted until now. In any case, it's standalone for the time being. Thanks for reading!

“It's more than impossible,” Scully said, her words coming out with a white wisp of breath that disappeared like a ghost between them. She looked down at her and Mulder's fingers intertwined on her stomach and drew in a sharp breath. “I didn't mean it,” she said, her pulse ringing in her ears.

“So, you're not--” Mulder asked, his world effectively having been tipped on its ear. 

Scully shook her head, hot tears burning her cheeks despite the chill in the air. “I am. I don't understand how, and maybe I should've said something sooner, but I was so afraid. I was talking about William. He's our son, Mulder. No back alley conversation the smoking man has with Skinner is going to change that. He's a liar,” she said, hitting his chest with more force than was strictly necessary as a sob escaped her throat. “He's a liar.”

“I know, honey,” Mulder said, rubbing a hand down her arm and then resting it at the small of her back. He considered reminding her the smoking man was dead, drifting through the water not far from them, but bile rose in his throat at the thought, and he remembered William was floating through the same water. As if she read his thoughts anyhow, Scully stiffened against him before pushing him away and rushing to the edge of the dock. “What is it?”

“He's alive,” Scully replied, laughing in disbelief. She tossed her jacket aside and was kneeling to make quick work of slipping off her shoes when Mulder stopped her. “I saw him, Mulder. His head bobbed about the waves. My son is out there, and I need--”

“I know you do, Scully, but I need you to be safe. Especially now,” he replied, glancing briefly at her abdomen before shrugging off his own coat and jumping in. 

“Mulder!” Scully shouted, watching as he started swimming away. She stood at the dock's edge, perilously close to falling in. “To your right,” she shouted, following his path. She'd seen William--Jackson, she corrected herself--she was sure of it, even if she had no idea how he could've survived being hit with a bullet at such a close range. Skinner had told her what Spender had relayed to him, a story that made her skin crawl just thinking of it, and she was furious with herself for buying it even for a second. The moment she'd heard the gunshot and realized William had been hit, she knew with every fiber of her being she'd fight with everything she had to get him back. She just prayed when she saw him again he would not be in a body bag. 

Mulder swam further away, his limbs growing heavier by the second, bogged down by the weight of the water around him. He glanced over his shoulder, watching as Scully looked on helplessly, and he knew he couldn’t return to her without William, alive or not. “Jackson!” he called, spitting out a mouthful of water. He was thankful it was for the most part calm, but the sky was so dark, it was difficult to see. He scanned the area before him, watching for signs of life, and tried to quell the doubt brewing in the pit of his stomach. The muffled sound of Scully insisting he look to his right made Mulder turn his head just as their son’s head crested above the waves. “Hey,” he yelled, kicking his legs in an attempt to swim faster towards him.

“I’m okay,” Jackson insisted, coughing up water as he pushed away from Mulder. “It’s fine, really. Just a flesh wound,” he insisted, peeling away the hair that had matted itself to his forehead. 

Mulder watched as what was once a gaping gunshot wound appeared as only a welt with the tiniest trickle of blood. “How--” he stopped, clearing his throat. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get you back on shore. Take you to the hospital.”

“Or you could just do the right thing and let me go,” Jackson insisted, gritting his teeth. “I’ll be fine. It’s safer for both of you without me.”

“Maybe that’s true,” Mulder replied, clutching his son’s jacket, desperately trying to drag him closer to dry land. “But we can protect you. We can help you.”

“Who says I need protecting? I was just shot because that creep thought I was you,” Jackson replied, trying but failing to push away from him. 

Any other time, that response would’ve pained Mulder more than it did, but he looped an arm around his son’s shoulders and started wading back toward the docks, determined to get them there with or without Jackson’s help. “About that, the only reason you appeared as me is because you wanted to see her again before you left, isn’t it? Because you knew if you came to her as yourself there was no way she’d let you escape. But you wanted to see her. And now you can,” Mulder insisted. 

“She’s safer without me. You both are. I’ve hurt people,” Jackson cried. He winced, the pain from the still healing wound beginning to get to him. Stars peppered his vision and he stopped swimming, the breath in his lungs growing weak. “I can’t.”

“We’ll get out of this damn water, and we’ll get you some help. Maybe have a proper discussion with the three of us all alert at the same time. And then if you still want to leave, you’re free. We won’t hold you here. Got it?” Mulder asked, knowing full well the fight they’d face from Scully if it came to that, and hoping they wouldn’t reach that point. 

“Okay,” Jackson relented, bowing his head as he fought another wave of pain. Trying to heal himself from what should have been a fatal wound was taking more out of him than he cared to admit. 

Mulder pulled him closer, taking on more of his weight. “Just hold onto me, okay? I’ve got you.”

“I’m fine,” Jackson insisted, knowing it was a lie and not doubting for a second Mulder knew it. Once back on land, he couldn’t stop shivering. His shirt clung to his body like a second skin, and every breeze that blew seemed to slice through clean to the bone. He looked to his right, watching as Scully hovered, unsure of how to proceed. “I’m okay,” he said, watching as she silently shook her head. 

“We need to get you checked out,” she said, reaching out with a shaky hand to move the hair from his face in hopes of getting a better look at him. The wound from the bullet had faded to almost nothing, the slightest angry red scar remained. If she didn’t know the truth, he could have lied and said it was from something far less fatal than a gunshot. “Oh, Will--”

“That’s not my name,” Jackson interjected, recoiling from her touch. He didn’t find it unwelcome, but everything about the situation made them feel like they were on a livewire about to snap. Any wrong move and they could all come tumbling down. The way she stepped back as if she'd been stung made him hope he hadn’t been the one to put an end to whatever this new beginning was before it even had a chance to start. He thought of the look of confusion mixed with relief when he’d appeared to her as Mulder and said he knew she loved him. He’d intended on fleeing for his life at the time, and now he wasn’t sure how to cope with the newfound reality that they were both standing before him, Scully and the man he’d begun to understand was his biological father. The man he’d seen in some of his dreams had been nothing more than a monster, he knew that now, and he was thankful his body was floating somewhere in the water beside them. “It is, but it’s not. You gave me that name, but forgive me for finding it a little difficult to wrap my head around everything. All of it,” he said, shaking as another gust of wind rattled through him.

Scully picked up her coat and wrapped it around his shoulders as best she could. It was far too small, barely draping around his shoulders, but she hoped it did something to ward off the chill. She caught Mulder’s eye standing opposite her, and she wanted to know what he was thinking. In the distance she heard sirens, and she knew they wouldn’t have long.

“We should probably get out of here,” Mulder said, already leading the way. “I’ve got some dry things back at the house.”

“You guys want me to come back to your house?” Jackson asked. He’d known the offer was coming, but it still seemed to be too soon. “You’re not gonna make me, like, go to the hospital or something?”

Scully knew it wasn’t a bad idea, but she also knew there was no way they could explain what had happened to him in a way that made sense. “I have my kit at home, along with some supplies I’ve stashed away. If there’s something I don’t have, then yes, I suppose we could. But I think right now we need to get out of the open. We can check on Skinner and the others once it’s safe.”

“You really are a doctor,” Jackson replied, momentarily stunned. Their questioning glances told him he’d need to elaborate. “It’s just...in some of the visions, I’d see you in a hospital. Or a lab or whatever. And, well, you knew how to perform your own DNA test,” he said, ending with a shrug. “I’m sorry,” he continued, ducking his head. “I made you think I was dead because--”

“It doesn’t matter,” Scully insisted, shaking her head. It mattered, but not as much as him being back in their lives. They’d hash everything else out in due time. “Will you come?”

Jackson looked at the two of them, eyeing him expectantly. For a moment, he considered making a run for it and dashing off in the opposite direction. He could make it on his own just like he planned, live far away from them and the danger that lurked around them all. Still, they meant well, and being under the same room as the parents he’d wondered about his whole life didn’t seem like such a terrible idea. “If it’s okay, yeah,” he replied, feeling as if he was growing weaker by the minute.

Mulder threw his jacket over his son’s shoulders in an attempt to warm him more than Scully’s jacket could by itself. “Let’s get out of here.”


End file.
